Prefixes: a- and an- of English words,
Part 4 of 4.
“asemia” to “tritanopia”
a-, an- ( Greek: a prefix meaning: no, absence of, without, lack of, not).
These prefixes are normally used with elements of Greek origin, a- is used before consonants and an- is used before vowels. It affects the meanings of hundreds of words.
There are too many words that use these prefix elements to list all of them on this site; however, there are some significant examples listed in this and the other groups provided.
asemia:
Loss of the ability, previously possessed, to make or understand any sign or token of communication, whether of organic or emotional origin.
asepsis, aseptic:
1. A condition in which living pathogenic organisms are absent; a state of sterility.
2. Free from microorganisms that produce disease, fermentation, or putrefaction.
asexual:
1. Reproduction without nuclear fusion in an organism.
2. Having no sexual desire or interest.
3. Having no sex; that is, genderless (neither male nor female).
asiderosis:
An abnormal decrease of the iron reserve of the body.
asitia:
Anorexia; no appetite for food.
asocial:
Not social; indifferent to social values; without social meaning or significance.
asoma:
Without a complete body; a fetus with only a rudimentary body.
asomatognosia:
1. Lack of awareness of the condition of all or part of one’s body.
2. Lack of somatognosis which is a general feeling of the existence of one’s body and of the functioning of the organs.
asomatophyte:
A plant in which there is no distinction between body and reproductive cells.
aspermia:
Failure of the formation or the emission of semen.
asphyxia:
A stopping of the pulse; pathological changes caused by lack of oxygen in respired air, resulting in hypoxia and hypercapnia.
asplenia, asplenic:
Absence of the spleen.
asporous:
Having no true spores; applied to microorganisms.
astasia, astatic:
Motor incoordination with an inability to stand.
astereognosis: Tactile amnesia:
Loss or lack of the ability to understand the form and nature of objects that are touched (stereognosis), a form of tactile agnosia.
asterixis:
A lack of or a lapse of posture consisting of momentary loss of a fixed position of the hands or arms followed by a jerking recovery movement that restores the limb to its original position; also known as flapping tremor.
asthenia, asthenic:
Lack or loss of strength and energy; weakness; debility or diminution of the vital forces.
asthenopia:
Eye weakness or strain, often causing headache, ocular discomfort, etc.
asthenosphere:
A zone beneath the earth’s surface that lies beneath the lithosphere and consists of several hundred kilometers of weak material that readily yields to persistent stresses.
astomatous:
Having no mouth, as certain ciliates.
astomia:
Congenital absence of the mouth.
asyllabia:
A form of aphasia characterized by an inability to form or understand syllables, even while recognizing individual letters.
asymbolia, asymboly:
The loss of power to comprehend the symbolic meaning of things such as words, figures, gestures, and signs.
asymmetry:
A lack or absence of symmetry; dissimilarity in corresponding parts of organs on opposite sides of the body that are normally alike.
asymphytous:
Separate or distinct; not grown together.
asymptomatic:
Without symptoms; producing or causing no symptoms.
asymptote:
A straight line that a curve continually approaches, but never meets, even if the curve is extended to infinity.
asynchronism, asynchronous, asynchrony:
1. Operating at a rate determined by the system rather than at a regular rate of chronological time; without a fixed time pattern.
2. Describing the relationship of two or more systems that run at their own rates and interact at unpredictable times.
asyndesis:
A pattern of language in which words and phrases are juxtaposed without grammatical linkage; seen in schizophrenic and other mental disorders.
asynechia:
Absence of continuity of structure.
asynergy, asynergy, asynergic:
Lack of coordination among various muscle groups during the performance of complex movements, resulting in a loss of skill and speed.
asynesia:
Profound mental dullness; stupidity.
asyntaxia:
Lack of proper and orderly embryonic development.
asystole, asystolia, asystolic:
Absence of a heartbeat.
atactic:
A reference to muscle movements, irregular; lacking in coordination.
atactilia:
Loss of the sense of touch.
ataraxia, ataractic:
1. The absence of anxiety or confusion; imperturbability; untroubled calmness; inner harmony.
2. A tranquilizer; having a tranquilizing or calming effect.
ataxaphasia:
An inability to form phrases and sentences despite the ability to enunciate individual words.
ataxia, atactic, atactiform:
1. Absence or lack of order; lack of coordination.
2. The inability of someone to coordinate muscle activity during a
voluntary movement; irregularity of muscular action.
ataxiadynamia:
Muscular weakness combined with incoordination.
ataxophobia:
A mental dread of disorder or untididness.
atectonic:
A reference to an event that occurs in the absence of widespread crustal deformations.
atelesis:
Absence of integration or successful completion.
atelia, ateliotic:
Imperfect or incomplete development.
ateliosis:
Incomplete development which may refer to psychic infantilism or puerilism, to mental retardation, and/or to physical dwarfism (microsomia).
atheism:
1. The belief that there is no God, or denial that God or gods exist.
2. Godlessness.
athermal:
Not warm; said of springs with water that is below 15 degrees Centigrade.
athermanous:
Absorbing heat rays and not permitting them to pass.
athermic:
Without fever or with no rise of temperature.
athymia:
1. A name formerly given to absence of feeling or emotion, as seen in depression or the dysthymic disorder.
2. Apathy, emotional indifference, or unresponsveness.
3. Unconsciousness.
atocia:
Sterility in the female.
atokous:
Without offspring; non-reproductive; vegetative.
atom:
1. Literally, “not cutable”, not divisible.
2. Originally, any of the indivisible particles postulated by philosophers as the basic component of all matter.
3. A tiny particle of anything; jot.
atonia:
Lack of tone or tension with reference to the muscles or bodily organs, etc.
atonic:
Relating to or characterized by lack of tone or vital energy. It refers to the whole body, to a particular system of the body, or to single organs; especially to contractile organs.
atony:
Lack of normal tone (tension) or strength (in muscles, etc.).
atopognosis:
The inability to locate a sensation properly; sensory inattention.
atoxic:
Not toxic; not caused by or associated with a toxin (poison).
atraumatic:
Not inflicting or causing damage or injury.
atrichous:
The absence of hair either congenital or acquired.
atrophia:
The wasting away of tissues, organs, or the entire body.
atrophy:
A wasting away, especially of body tissue, an organ, etc., or the failure of an organ or part to grow or develop, as with insufficient nutrition.
avascular:
Without blood or lymphatic vassels.
avirulence:
Not virulent.
axenic:
Not contaminated by or associated with any foreign organisms, used in reference to pure cultures of microorganisms or to germ-free animals.
aypnia:
Insomnia, sleeplessness.
azoic:
1. Devoid of living organisms.
2. Without life; specifically, designating or of the Early Precambrian (Archean) era, before life appeared on earth.
azoospermia:
Absence of living spermatozoa in the semen.
azygous:
Not occurring as one of a pair; having no mate, single.
deuteranopia:
A visual defect in which the retina fails to respond to the color green; so named from blindness to the color green, which is regarded as the second primary color.
myasthenia:
Abnormal muscle fatigue or weakness.
neurasthenia:
A disorder originally thought to result from neural exhaustion, including such symptoms as chronic fatigue, weakness, and irritability.
protanopia:
A visual defect in which the retina fails to respond to the color red; so named from blindness to the color red, which is regarded as the first of the primary colors.
tritanopia:
A visual defect in which the retina fails to respond to the color blue; so named from blindness to the color blue, which is regarded as the third primary color.
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